Departmental News

The much anticipated Forestry Indaba, which the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) will be hosting with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (George Campus) from 13 to 15 July, will bring together a range of stakeholders from the forestry and related industries.

A cross section of South Africans involved in forests and forestry gathered at the idyllic Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s (NMMU), George campus for the three day, 2015 Forestry Indaba, co-sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

A variety of interesting exhibitions, lectures, workshops, demonstrations, wetland tours and much more will ensure that visitors to the much anticipated annual Science Expo presented by NMMU and Glenwood House School stand in awe at the technological innovations that underpin a more sustainable future.

The Forestry INDABA hosted as a partnership between Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (George Campus) and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) concluded on a high note with an inspiring closing address by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, General Bheki Cele.

Prof Venter of the Department of Business Management and School of Management Sciences, together with Prof Chris Adendorff, Adjunct Professor at the NMMU Business School, attended the 12th European Families in Business Conference which was held in Rome, Italy at the St Regis Hotel on 23-24 June 2015.

Congratulations to Kevin Naude (co-authors Dieter Vogts and Jean Greyling) whose paper "When Similarity Measures Lie" has been accepted for the 8th International Conference on Similairty and Applications (SISAP)
SISAP 2015 will be from 12-14 October 2015 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Congratulations to Brenda Scholtz, Irene Snyman and Andre Calitz whose paper "Synchronous Gesture Manipulation for Collaboration and Coordination of Co-located, Business Process Modelling" was accepted for the South African Computer Journal (SACJ).
SACJ is an accredited journal.

We will be supporting Mandela Day with the following activities this week under the umbrella #Project2767:
20 CAT learners from mainly township schools will be in the department the whole of next week, being introduced to programming concepts by Ron Beyers (from YESA) and myself. This workshop is sponsored by the ICT for Rural Development e-Skills CoLab.
22 Maths and Science learners from Solomon Mahlangu High School in Kwa Nobuhle will attend an introductory end user course on Thursday and Friday, presented by Dudu Fani.
At the International ITEE 2015 Conference Gala Dinner we raised R5000 for the Ikhanyesi Computer Centre in Walmer Township, as another Mandela Day project.
I want to challenge our Alumni and Industry Partners to support Prof Derrick Swartz’s Mount Fuji project in which he will be raising funds towards an NMMU Bursary scheme. (http://trust.nmmu.ac.za/VC-s-Climb-Campaign)
Have a look at this short video as a contribution to Mandela Day 2015 in tribute of Mandela's 27 years in prison:
https://youtu.be/lQAH2HYea-M

The weekend’s Hackathon (79 students registered) was a great success. Students enjoyed the technical challenge and were impressed by the high level of technical support they received from the Derivco people throughout the period. A big thank you to Lester for months of negotiations and huge marketing drive made this happen and the technical team JR (Friday 17:00 – Saturday 04:00) and Charl (Saturday 04:00 – 14:00) for invaluable technical support.
Have you signed up for the Derivco Slice of Source,
18 hour hackathon at your campus?
Don’t miss the chance to win great prizes from Github, Derivco and Microsoft
as well as a great opportunity to write code and make awesome games
with the ultimate code ninja’s of Derivco!
Dinner, Breakfast and Lunch will be served to all attendees.
Redbull and plenty of caffeine will be on offer to keep your creative juices pumping!
Sign up here: http://bit.ly/1L4EenT

Congratulations to Brenda Scholtz, Andre Calitz and Thabo Tlebere whose paper "Evaluating Students' Social Media Use for Extra- Curricular Education" was accepted for the "Journal of Applied Research in Highe Education"- special issue Reviewing the Performance and Impact of Social Media Tools in Higher Education.

Congratulations to Maxine Esterhuyse who (with Prof Kevin Johnston and Muzaffar Loot from UCT) co-authored the paper "The Business Value of Cloud Computing in South Africa" which was accepted for "The African Journal of Information Systems". This is an accredited journal.

The Zoological Society of Southern Africa (ZSSA) recently conferred a unique set of awards on ACE, this through the awarding of the ZSSA Gold Medal to Prof Graham Kerley, and the ZSSA Stevenson Hamilton Award to Dr André Boshoff, on the occasion of the 37th Congress of ZSSA in Grahamstown. The ZSSA is the learned society representing the field of zoology in southern Africa. This is the first time that these two awards have been simultaneously awarded to individuals from the same institution. It is also the first time that either of these awards have been given to zoologists at the NMMU (or the old UPE or PE Technikon).
The criteria for the ZSSA Gold Medal award comprise “outstanding achievements in Zoology in southern Africa” (See: http://zssa.co.za/?page_id=95#sthash.r5D8wMH9.dpuf), and this award reflects Graham’s contribution to research, teaching and engagement in the field of zoology. One such aspect for which he is recognised is his role as the founding Director of ACE.
The ZSSA Stevenson Hamilton Award is awarded to Dr André Boshoff for his outstanding role in raising awareness about the field of zoology. In addition to his work on raptors, waterbirds and vultures, André is recognised for his lead role in making historical information about the mammals of South Africa available (see: http://ace.nmmu.ac.za/Historical-Incidence-of-the-Larger-Mammals) .
These awards clearly demonstrate that members of ACE are not only making a real contribution, but that this is being recognised (see also: http://herald.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=0VQC182OBKS2&linkid=aec58e44-2acf-4325-ae9b-5d723ed0f819&pdaffid=KHOqIFYzI3hPuzHsdEaXLQ%3d%3d ). This is also excellent recognition for the NMMU. Congratulations to Graham and André.

The SRU has funding opportunities for post-graduate students at PhD and Master's level with a keen interest in trans-disciplinary research at the interface between society and ecosystems, and sustainability, in the Garden Route.

On the 22nd of June, Prof. Richard Kingsford entertained the students of NMMU George Campuis with an impassioned lecture about his journey to restore and protect rivers in Australia.
Professor Richard Kingsford is the Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of NSW. He has focussed his research over about the last 20 years on the waterbirds, wetlands and rivers of arid Australia, which cover about 70% of the continent. He has identified the significant impacts of water resource development on the rivers and wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin and other parts of the world and he has contributed to policy development and environmental flow management. He is the current President of the Society for Conservation Biology in Oceania.

IT was not all hard work and no play for 350 learners attending Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s annual Grade 12 Accounting Winter School last week (29 to 3 July 2015): The learners also got to celebrate the university’s 10th birthday with a super-sized chocolate cake.

A UNIQUE exhibition featuring photographs of the country’s best-loved former leader, Nelson Mandela, by one of its best-known South African photojournalists, Dr Peter Magubane, is a fitting way to mark the 10th anniversary of the only university that bears Mandela’s name.

Thirty prospective engineers from 14 schools will get the opportunity to sharpen their pencils at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the Automotive Industry Development Centre’s annual Automotive Experiential Career Development Programme (AECDP) winter school at the university.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) together with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is hosting the much anticipated Forestry Indaba, from 13 to 15 July at NMMU George Campus bringing together a range of stakeholders from the forestry and related industries.

Language and literacy, science and education. Master’s in Education student Kholisa Papu succeeded in combining all four aspects and brought science writing and education together which resulted in her winning the South African Society for Engineering Education (SASEE) best submission and best presentation awards at SASEE’s Third Biennial Conference held at University of KwaZulu-Natal recently.

Eighteen Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University second-year emergency medical care (EMC) students will get a taste of reality when they start “working” a gruelling 48-hour shift from Monday through to Wednesday.

Prof Graham Kerley, Director of the Centre for African Conservation Ecology (ACE), a research entity at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, recently received the Zoological Society of Southern Africa (ZSSA) Gold Medal for outstanding achievements in Zoology in southern Africa over a number of years.

He is leaving soon to start his journey to climb Mount Fuji in aid of bursaries for financially needy, yet academically deserving students, but first NMMU Vice-chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz did some last-minute preparation with students and staff.He is leaving soon to start his journey to climb Mount Fuji in aid of bursaries for financially needy, yet academically deserving students, but first NMMU Vice-chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz did some last-minute preparation with students and staff.

TO support the fundraising efforts of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz – who is climbing Mount Fuji next month (August 7) to raise money for financially needy students, as part of the university’s 10-year celebrations – NMMU’s top-performing students have launched an innovative fundraising initiative of their own.

The Chair for Education in Human Settlements Development and Management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in partnership with the National Department of Human Settlements will host a research seminar to generate a common vision on future research into sustainable cities and human settlements in South Africa.

A determined Bestmed-Shukuma Madibaz cycling team held many of the larger squads at bay to take the silver medal in the team classification at the University Sport South Africa competition in Stellenbosch last week.

The Mecer Madibaz men's hockey team claimed silver for the second year running at the University Sport South Africa tournament hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg earlier this month.

The Madibaz football team kicked off their Varsity Football campaign with a well-executed goalless draw against Vaal University of Technology at the Isak Steyl Stadium in Vanderbijlpark on Monday night.

The NMMU Madibaz football team will face a tough test in round two of the Varsity Football tournament when they go up against the University of the Witwatersrand at the Wits Stadium in Johannesburg on Monday night.

The Madibaz football team suffered their first defeat of this year's Varsity Football tournament when they went down 1-0 to the University of the Witwatersrand at the Wits Stadium in Johannesburg on Monday night.

Propella, an initiative aimed at supporting and developing businesses in Nelson Mandela Bay, was recently launched at its new premises in Walmer Boulevard, South End and featured in the Weekend Post on June 27.

Innovolve, the wholly owned commercialisation company of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and Engeli Enterprise Development (EDD), a private sector business support company, joined forces to establish Propella after a need was identified for an incubator to support and stimulate technology-based innovation companies.

Prof Govindjee, the Head of Department of Public Law, has accepted an invitation to join the African Leadership Network (ALN) as a member for a five year period. ALN is made up of over 1500 members and alumni from over 40 countries who represent top leadership in the private sector, government, civil society and academia. The ALN community include recognised entrepeneurs, business executives, high-wealth investors, cultural leaders, high impact social entrepreneurs and leading government officials. Congratulations Prof Govindjee!

Prof Venter of the Department of Business Management and School of Management Sciences, together with Prof Chris Adendorff, Adjunct Professor at the NMMU Business School, attended the 12th European Families in Business Conference which was held in Rome, Italy at the St Regis Hotel on 23-24 June 2015.

A UNIQUE exhibition featuring photographs of the country’s best-loved former leader, Nelson Mandela, by one of its best-known photojournalists, Dr Peter Magubane, is a fitting way to mark the 10th anniversary of the only university that bears Mandela’s name.